Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: The Tower of Wish[5]

Back in the 15th-floor cafe on Genkelope , Kim Hajin listened to the Secretive Plotter's invitation.

[...We've heard a lot about your achievements. So we have an offer for you, Black Lotus, would you like to join us, 'The Apocrypha'?]

Hajin leaned back, his face hidden within his hood. He tapped his finger on the table. The invitation was logical. This 'Apocrypha' was clearly the most powerful faction in the Tower right now. But Kim Hajin was, by nature, an 'Extra'. He avoided the main stage.

"I appreciate the offer," Hajin said, his voice flat. "But I'll have to decline. I need to wait for my party members to make a decision."

Cheok Jungyeong set his ale barrel down with a thud. "Party members? Aren't we your party? The Chameleon Troupe?"

"I meant my new party members," Hajin said. He stood up, placing a few TP notes on the table for his drink.

He didn't need to say more. Spartan materialized on his shoulder.

He turned to leave. "I'll see you around."

Spartan's authority activated, and in a flash of white light, Kim Hajin.

Cheok Jungyeong shrugged. "He's always been like that."

Arianna watched the spot where Hajin had been, her voice a wisp of sarcastic. "It seems the rumors of 'Black Lotus' being elusive and... difficult... were not exaggerated."

The Plotter merely picked up his teacup. [It does not matter. He will join. The 'World's Story' will force them to.]

***

RRRRRRRUMBLE...

The earthquake that had shaken the very Tower finally subsided. The cracks in the artificial sky of the tutorial remained.

Kim Dokja and Klein Moretti stood on the beach, exhausted.

The Giant Eel was gone with the help of Audrey's Historical Projection.

She instantly disolved into Historical Void.

A system message appeared, its text no longer polite.

[SYSTEM ERROR! The Tutorial stage has been critically damaged by an external 'Status'!]

[The 'World Will' and the 'Star Stream' are negotiating...]

[The 'Second Tutorial' will be shortened.]

[The tutorial will end in 2 days.]

"Two more days," Dokja panted, his [Fourth Wall] still thin. He felt the grit of the sand, the sting of the salt spray. It was deeply unpleasant.

Klein, on the other hand, immediately sat down. "I am out of Spirituality. I must rest."

"Rest?" Dokja looked at the 'survival guide' on the ground. "Okay, I'll find some food, you can rest for a couple of hours."

"Protect me." Klein closed his eyes. "Please."

Their new dynamic was set. It was a pathetic mirror of Hajin and Boss's survival.

Kim Dokja looked around, he saw a place where Klein had lit up a fire before. After much cursing, a fire was lit. He spent another hour looking around.

In the depths of the island he found some interesting vegetable.

'Did I have something like that on my island?'

It looked like two cherries but of different colors with garlic and onion skin.

As soon as Dokja's hand touched it a window popped up:

[The Holy Garlic and Onion]

'Huh?!'

[Hidden Piece – you may choose one of the following three blessings.]

—Change the Trait.

[Note: The changes may be unexpectable and irreversible, System highly recommends to not choose this option]

 —Restore 30% of lost stats.

 —Abstract Versatility.

Dokja thought for a second, rubbing his forehead in confusion.

'What kind of scum is that? Doesn't it go against… any Probability? '

He thought for another second.

It had to be the first option.

And Dokja knew well which Trait to use this blessing on.

'Well, I'm not even sure if it'll work…'

—A random change will happen to your Trait.

"I'll go with 'Fourth Wall'."

Flash of light blinded everything around.

By nightfall, Klein had recovered about 40% of his Spirituality.

He saw a little fireplace that almost died down.

He quickly found and added some wooden sticks into the fire.

"Where is this problematic Constellation?"

Klein took a stick and placed it vertically.

He whispered seven times:

"Location of Kim Dokja."

It fell, pointing into the island's thickets.

Following his divination, he finally found Kim Dokja.

To be precise it wasn't really the divination that helped him find Dokja.

But the sound.

A sound that Klein thought to be some beast's growling led him to the snorting 'Demon King of Salvation'.

Klein almost face palmed.

"Are you serious?"

But the thing that alarmed him wasn't his snorting. The absence of Spirit Body Thread.

Any living thing should have it. 

But Dokja didn't have it.

At least for now Klein didn't have the abilities to attach Threads to inanimate.

It was the first time Klein came across such phenomenon. Dokja was still breathing but...

He decided to take him back to their miniature camp.

Klein took out some fish he caught earlier. After roasting it over the fire on a stick [Glossy Seafish]'s smell filled the island.

Then his spirituality was triggered.

Dokja slowly opened his eyes.

 "You are finally awake."

"Ugh, my head hurts…"

[This stupid Reader is pathetic.]

'Fourth Wall?'

[Constellation 'Oldest Dream' looks at you…]

***

Flash.

The world vanished. There was no sound. There was only a storm of noise.

The polite, sterile windows of the Tower of Wish and the familiar blue screens of the Star Stream were overlapping, fighting for dominance in his vision, creating a chaotic, unreadable mess.

His head throbbed. The [Fourth Wall], his absolute defense, his constant companion, was trembling. The familiar, comforting, and fragmented letters that usually buffered his mind were glitching, unable to form words.

[K i m D ok ja is... a... b@#$a... st@#d...]

Then, a single, clean message, a hybrid of both systems, cut through the chaos.

[The Holy Garlic and Onion's blessing has changed your Trait, 'Fourth Wall'.]

===

[Trait: Fourth Wall (Grade-???)] [Status: Static → Evolving]

===

The trembling stopped. And then, a new voice spoke.

It wasn't the fragmented text. It was a real voice. Male, clear, and ancient. It resonated from behind the Wall, from within his very soul.

"I'm starting to remember."

Another flash.

The smell of antiseptic. The beep of a heart monitor.

He looked down at his own arms, thin and pale, wrapped in white bandages at the wrists. He was a teenager. He was in a hospital bed.

He remembered this. The despair. The crushing loneliness. This was the time before. Before he found Ways of Survival. Before there was a Yoo Joonghyuk to read. Before there was any hope.

The door to his hospital room creaked open. It was the middle of the night.

A girl stood in the doorway, backlit by the hallway light. She looked about 13, maybe 15. She had black hair cascading to her waist and fierce, angry eyes that were red... from crying.

"Han Sooyoung...?" he whispered. Dokja could barely recognize her younger self.

It was impossible. He hadn't met her until the Scenarios began. Or at least that's what Dokja thought?

She didn't seem to hear him. She just stood there, staring at him, her small fists clenched at her sides, her face a mask of terrible anger and grief.

Another flash.

The roar of traffic. He was on a crowded street, wearing his cheap suit. His daily commute. He was frozen, a ghost in the river of people rushing past him.

A hand grabbed his shoulder, yanking him out of the flow.

It was her. A short, black bob-cut. A woman that reminded him of a black cat. Han Sooyoung. The plagiarist author. His companion.

He was hit by a sudden, sharp, and overwhelming wave of... missing her. Of missing his companions. Yoo Sangah. Jung Heewon. Lee Hyunsung. Biyoo. Kids. Everyone.

Even that stupid Sunfish bastard!

He looked at her, truly looked at her. 'Was she always this beautiful?' he caught himself thinking.

She was crying, but she was also smiling—a desperate, pained, relieved smile.

A system window, one he'd never seen, appeared in his vision.

[The Constellation 'Director of the False Last Act' is looking at you!]

[The Story 'Anticipatory Plagiarism' has finished its storytelling.]

"It's not your fault..." she whispered.

The vision dissolved.

He was in the darkness. The familiar, comforting void of the [Fourth Wall], surrounded by swirling pages of text.

A final, cold message appeared.

['Fourth Wall' looks at the Constellation 'Oldest Dream'.]

Then, a new, alien sensation... a smell. Not old paper. Not ink.

Roasted fish.

Klein was sitting by the fire, holding a stick with a perfectly roasted [Glossy Seafish] over the flames.

***

Klein handed him one more stick with fish.

"So..." Klein said, breaking the silence as he wiped his hands. "You are telling me... you just experienced… a forced... divination? You traveled to your own past, before your 'story' began, and you were visited by...your companion..?"

Dokja nodded, staring at the fire. "That about sums it up."

Klein tapped his glabella, his expression uncharacteristically serious. A face of an obvious cheat.

'I'm a part-time Seer after all!' Klein silently lampooned.

"This... is not a simple 'Fable'. To see the past... But this 'Han Sooyoung'... for her to be in your past... that is not 'viewing'. That is 'Fate'. A 'Destiny' that was already written."

He looked at Dokja with new, unnervingly perceptive eyes.

"This 'Author' ... this 'Director of the False Last Act'... Her connection to you is far deeper than 'companionship'. She may be... an 'anchor' to your very existence."

Kim Dokja said nothing, just stared into the flames.

"I'm... tired," Dokja said finally, his voice rough. "My head hurts. I'm going to sleep."

Klein nodded.

Dokja lay down by the fire and, for the first time since this all began, fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

(The Next Day)

Pssssh—

A large waterspout erupted. A [Giant Fish lv.3]—an [Intermediate-rank grade-9] monster, but not the Leviathan—burst from the water.

[Bookmark: Way of the Wind (Lv. 3)]!

Dokja ran across the water, acting as bait. The fish roared, (Gueeee—), and lunged at him.

"Now!" Dokja screamed.

From the island, Klein's Spirit Body Threads shot out, controlling the fish. It was a Marionettist's control.

The fish screamed as its body was forced to turn, its mind overwhelmed by Klein's focused Spirituality. But it was too strong. The threads began to snap.

"Dokja, get on!" Klein yelled, "Don't forget my trait was also nerfed!"

Dokja leaped onto the fish's broad back.

"It's fighting me!" Klein shouted, his face pale as he poured Spirituality into his Worms of Spirits. "I can only hold it for a few minutes!"

"That's all I need! Go! Go!" Dokja yelled, kicking the fish's side.

The enraged, partially-controlled Giant Fish rocketed forward meeting the with the stick which velocity was amplified by [Way of the Wind].

It went in like an oiled up apple.(:3)

[You defeated Giant Fish lv.3!]

To catch a lv.3 fish was a big rarity in tutorial, but they still did it!

It was extremely delicious.

[The second tutorial will end in 10 minutes.]

[Good work surviving until now.]

They collapsed on the sand, utterly spent.

[You cleared the second tutorial.]

[Player Kim Dokja obtained 312 performance points.]

[You are currently ranked 68th out of 78 Players.]

[Player Klein Moretti obtained 340 performance points.]

[You are currently ranked 65th out of 78 Players.]

Dokja stared at his rank. "68th..." He had never been ranked so low in his life.

[You will now be transferred to your waiting room in three minutes.]

[You will now be given 24 hours to rest.]

[Prepare for the final tutorial.]

A warm light enveloped them.

Dokja appeared in a [Lv.0 Personal Waiting Room]. It was a 10x10 white void, completely empty.

[First place reward – you obtained...] He received no such message.

[You obtained 312 TP (Tower Points).]

"This is..." He was speechless.

[TP is a currency useable in all floors of the Tower.]

[Try opening the Lv.1 Player Shop.]

"Player Shop."

A window popped up. Dokja's eyes immediately went to the [Special Items] category.

[Earth Return Ticket – 1000 TP]

He stared at his 312 TP. He let out a long, bitter sigh.

[Final tutorial – Maintaining Profit]

[You will now be moved to 'Tutorial Town'.]

Light enveloped him again.

Klein materialized in the Tutorial Town, the scent of ale and damp wood hitting him. He saw the medieval-style buildings, the [Lv.??? Mercenary's Pub], and the bulletin board.

[You are in the highest difficulty level's Tutorial Town.]

[For ten days, obtain as much TP as you can in the tutorial's society.]

[At the end of ten days, you must possess more than 1000 TP to clear the final tutorial.]

He checked his own TP. 340 TP.

He needed 1000 TP.

A man who once ran a hundred-thousand-pound Tarot Club was now, for the third time in his life, a complete and utter pauper.

He looked at the rowdy, muscular NPCs in the pub, then at the "Destroying a goblin settlement" missions.

A deep, profound sigh escaped him. "...This is truly the worst."